Friday Night in Beast House by Richard Laymon Page A

that?’
    ‘It’s the beast .’
    A corner of Alison’s mouth curled up. ‘If it wanted to kill us, why didn’t it?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘Neither do I,’ she said. Squatting over Mark’s thighs, she bent down and unbuckled his belt.’But here we are, and it’s gone.’
    He pushed himself up to his elbows and looked around. The hillside and boulders and trees looked soft in the pale fog.
    ‘It’s gone,’ Alison said again. She unbuttoned the waistband of his jeans, pulled down the zipper.
    Some of Mark’s tightness eased.
    I can’t believe this is happening.
    ‘Maybe it got what it wanted,’ Alison said. Scuttling backward on her knees, she tugged at Mark’s jeans. He raised his rump off the ground. His jeans and underwear slid out from under him.
    He was free and rigid in the moist night air.
    ‘Now it’s our turn,’ Alison told him.
    ‘But it raped you! It…it dragged you away and…look at you, you’re all scratched and torn up…It…it fucked you!’
    ‘It sure did,’ she said. Crawling over him, she whispered, ‘And we never breathe a word about this to anyone.’
    ‘We’ve got to! You’re all ruined!’
    ‘I’ll heal.’
    ‘We’ve gotta tell.’
    ‘Never. It’ll be our secret. Just between you and me. Everything about tonight. Promise.’
    Mark shook his head.
    ‘Do you want me?’ she whispered.
    He nodded.
    ‘Then promise.’
    ‘But…’
    She eased down and he felt a soft wet opening push against the head of his erection. It nudged him. He felt himself go in half an inch. Then she withdrew.
    ‘Promise me, Mark.’
    ‘What’ll you tell your parents?’
    ‘Nothing.’
    ‘But you’re all messed up.’
    ‘Most of it won’t show when my clothes are on. If they notice anything, I’ll say I crashed my bike.’
    ‘But…’
    ‘Promise?’
    ‘Okay.’
    ‘Cross your heart and hope to die?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Cross mine.’ She moved forward and down so her chest was above his mouth. ‘Use your tongue.’
    He licked an X on the skin of her chest, tasting sweat and blood, feeling the furrows of scratches.
    ‘Hope to die?’ she asked.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Okay then.’ She eased herself down and backward and Mark felt himself slide in. She was warm in there. Warm and slippery and snug.
    He knew the beast had been in before him, plundering her, flooding her. He’d heard crude guys talk about ‘sloppy seconds’ and he guessed that was what he was getting but he didn’t mind very much.
    Didn’t mind at all, come to think of it.

 
    Chapter Twenty-one
     
     
    Near dawn, wearing what remained of their clothes, they made their way down the hillside. They stayed just outside the black fence and followed it. Alison could hardly walk. Mark held her. Sometimes, he picked her up and carried her for a while.
    They came out of the field near some homes. Except for a few porch lights, nearly all the houses were dark.
    They saw a cat. Once, a car went by a block away and they hid behind a tree. They saw no people anywhere. Only each other.
    Soon, they arrived at Alison’s house. All the windows were dark. So was the porch.
    ‘I left the back door unlocked,’ she whispered.
    They went around the house. On the stoop outside the backdoor, Alison took off Marks windbreaker and gave it back to him. Her white shirt was tattered, one sleeve missing and her right breast poking through a split. Her legs were bare all the way down to her white socks.
    ‘Are you sure you’ll be all right?’ Mark whispered.
    ‘Pretty sure.’
    He put on his windbreaker and zipped it up.
    ‘Nice and warm?’ Alison asked.
    ‘Yeah’
    ‘I’m freezing.’
    ‘You’d better go inside.’
    ‘Not yet.’ She took his hand and placed it on her breast. ‘That’s better.’
    ‘Yeah.’
    She held his hand there and whispered, ‘I had a great time tonight, Mark.
    ‘You did?’
    ‘Well…it had its ups and downs.’
    ‘Jeez.’
    She laughed softly, winced, then stared through the darkness at him. ‘It